With more than 9 hours battery life and a strong feature set, Samsung's Chromebook 2 is a very good value for $250.

Two years ago, Samsung released the Chromebook Series 3 (XE303C12), the first model to deliver on Google's promises of a capable little laptop for Web browsing for less than $300. It was featured in Google's many ads and was the first Chromebook to go (relatively) mainstream. Now, two years later, Samsung is replacing it with the Chromebook 2 ($249.99), another slim 13-inch model that hits the sweet spot of price and capability, and Chrome has matured with more apps, greater offline capability, and more powerful tools. But Samsung's new system isn't the only Chrome-based laptop on the block, and it faces stiff competition from almost every other player in the laptop industry. How well does the Chromebook 2 stack up against favorites like the touch-enabled Acer Chromebook C720P-2600 or the always-on HP Chromebook 11 (Verizon LTE)?

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Design The new Samsung Chromebook doesn't stray far from what worked so well for the previous model, with a slim design measuring 0.66 by 11.40 by 8.60 inches (HWD) and weighing just 2.65 pounds. The plastic exterior is still relatively plain, but in a more stylish, minimalist sort of way. The chassis has a faux-leather textured surface, but it raises the question—what's the point of mimicking leather (complete with stitching) if you're going to make it silver? Beneath the plastic surface, however, Samsung has beefed up the Chromebook with a metal frame reinforcing both the chassis and the lid, giving the inexpensive laptop a sturdy quality unlike most laptops in this price range.

The 11.6-inch display isn't the best we've seen in the category, especially when comparing the Twisted Nematic (TN) panel and its 1,366-by-768 resolution to competitors like the HP Chromebook 11 (Verizon LTE), which boasts a bold and bright In-Plane Switching (IPS) display, or the Toshiba CB35-B3340 Chromebook 2, which offers full HD (1,920-by-1,080) resolution. That said, it's a perfectly viewable screen, with decent color quality and highly readable text, and it does all of this without the extra expense that a nicer display would add.

The keyboard is slightly changed from its predecessor, with subtly curved keycaps rather than flat, chiclet-style keys, and a better keystroke feel—where the previous model's keys were a little loose, these are solid. The clickpad is also unchanged, with the same smooth tracking and gesture support for Chrome's one- and two-finger controls, like scrolling and two-finger tapping for right-click functions.

Features One of my only gripes with the previous Samsung Chromebook is the decision to place several ports on the back edge of the system, along the hinge. I prefer my ports to be easily accessible, and having to reach around to the back of the system (or simply turn it sideways, interrupting use) isn't ideal. Thankfully, this time around, Samsung has corrected the small error. On the right, there are a USB 2.0 port and a headset jack. On the left are a USB 3.0 port, a full HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. That microSD slot is a significant change from other Chromebooks, which, as a rule, have all offered full SD card support. However, as more people used microSD cards to share files between laptop and smartphone, it makes some sense to use the smaller format. That said, most cameras use the full SD format, and by switching to microSD only, Samsung has removed some of the utility of the card reader.

For Web connectivity, the Chromebook is equipped with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. For local storage, there's a 16GB solid-state drive (SSD), but Samsung expects you to migrate to cloud storage options like Google Drive.

Unlike most other Chromebooks, which only come with Chrome OS and 100GB of Google Drive cloud storage (free for 24 months), this new model also offers other bundled apps. You get AirDroid, an app that lets you use some of the features of your Android smartphone with your Chromebook. For example, you can send and receive text messages from your desktop, share pictures, files and clipboard text, and activate a "find my phone" function from the laptop. The Chromebook 2 includes a free 12-month premium subscription to the service. Another included app is WunderList, which lets you create and manage lists for everything, like daily to-dos, groceries, chore lists for family or roommates, and then share and collaborate on them with others.

Finally, Samsung is offering a new feature that may come to other Chromebooks eventually, but for now is in Beta as a Samsung exclusive: the Google Help app. One click on the Help app icon will pull up a live help agent to answer questions about Google Chrome or the device and help troubleshoot problems. It's like the Mayday feature on Amazon tablets. The app connects you with a support center in South Carolina, and lets you video chat with an agent. They can show you things on screen, or activate screen sharing and remote access to help solve any problems that might come up. Samsung covers the Chromebook 2 (XE500C12-K01US) with a one-year warranty.

Performance The Chromebook 2 is outfitted with an Intel Celeron N2840 processor—the same 2.58GHz CPU used in the Toshiba CB35-B3340—but it's paired with 2GB of RAM instead of the 4GB seen in the Toshiba model. Consequently, the overall performance is a little slow, but only noticeable when using the two laptops side-by-side. The Samsung model still offers the benefits of Chrome, like speedy boot times and the ability to access your Chrome bookmarks, plug-ins, and settings just by logging into your Google account. With the smaller allotment of RAM, however, there is some lag when running multiple tabs, and you'll occasionally see a page loading slowly or streaming media stuttering a bit. On the whole, however, the performance is quite similar to the Acer C720P-2600 and other comparable systems.

Where the Chromebook 2 really stands out is battery life. It lasted 9 hours 12 minutes on our rundown test, which is longer than just about every current competitor, including the HP Chromebook 11 (Verizon LTE) (5:27), the Toshiba CB35-B3340 (7:04), and the Acer Chromebook 13 (CB5-311-T9B0) (8:12). In fact, the only current model to do better is the category-leading Asus C200 Chromebook with 11:14. Nine hours is all the more impressive when you realize that the previous Samsung Chromebook Series 3 lasted just 5:25 on the same test.

Conclusion While the Samsung Chromebook 2 offers some solid improvements over the Samsung Chromebook Series 3, it's now just one among many, as the category has grown from only a few to a two-fisted handful. The Chromebook 2 does have a lot to offer, like long battery life and a surprisingly robust collection of included apps, but the primary appeal is still the price—the Chromebook 2 is one of the least expensive models you can buy. You'll definitely have better features on the likes of the Acer Chromebook C720P-2600, with its touch display, or the HP Chromebook 11 with Verizon LTE, but for simple value for your dollar, the Samsung Chromebook 2 (XE500C12-K01US) lands toward the front of the pack.

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About the Author

Brian Westover is an Analyst for the Hardware Team, reviewing laptops, desktops, and storage devices.
As a child, Brian was frequently asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" His answer alternated between Superman and Batman. This was cute when he was five, but worrisome at seventeen. Naturally, he is now a journalist, writing about tec... See Full Bio

Samsung Chromebook 2 (XE500C12-...

Samsung Chromebook 2 (XE500C12-K01US)

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